As always, I just want make it known I was offered (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
Yay! More witch stuff - my favorite class. Let's do this.
We get three new archetypes for our dollar. The first is a desert witch - a clear and obvious counterpart to Paizo's winter witch archetype. Mostly, this archetype does what you'd expect it to do (fire resistance instead of cold resistance, flare instead of ray of frost, etc.), but it does include two unique, nifty, and very appropriate and well-written hexes that are unique to the desert witch (and they aren't copies of the winter witch hexes, either - they're completely different). The familiar and patron options are also appropriate and well-chosen. All in all, not the most original archetype in the world, but that's more than made up for by...
...the grisly fetishist! This is a damned cool archetype, and I badly want to run one as the villain for a one-shot adventure. First of all, it's clearly a horror-movie inspired. Witches + horror movies... this archetype is already pressing all the right buttons for me. The grisly fetishist gains Stealth, proficiency with some "gruesome" weapons (the scythe, the pickaxe, the sickle), and its familiar is a tiny preserved head that it can "talk" to (or some other preserved part of a corpse). In exchange for the proficiencies and the extra class skills, her familiar loses a lot of its abilities. What really makes the archetype work is the implied "fighting style" of the fetishist. See- this witch gains an ability that allows it to make Intimidate checks while hidden. It also gains a pretty damn huge weapon damage bonus against shaken or flat-footed opponents. It's a pop out and "gotcha!" bonus. The implied tactics for the witch would be: buff up, sneak around, scare everyone with Intimidate, and the pop out of the shadows and land a powerful weapon attack with your scythe, or heavy pick, or whatever. Classic horror-movie style. I love it.
Unfortunately, I see a little less use in this archetype for a player. In a traditional campaign, a "melee witch" that doesn't get to set up the battlefield and milk the Stealth advantage probably won't last long. Still - what a great theme and powerset this is for GMs.
Lastly, we've got the maleficium - a word that I'm pretty sure that the author made up. The maleficium specializes in inflicting pain, and in the inflict and harm spells. She also gains a really gruesome and awesome unique hex that causes two effects: first - the victim takes some nonlethal damage. Second - the victim has an equal amount of preexisting nonlethal damage (such as the damage you received when the witch hit you with this hex in the last round) converted into lethal damage instead. Once a creature saves against this ability, you can no longer use it against that opponent for 24 hours. I enjoyed this archetype a lot - it worked out a way to build a "blasting" witch that still feels suitably witchy. This archetype also gains the ability to deal decent damage to people affected by other hexes, thus necessitating that the witch keep a suite of "hexy" hexes on hand if you want to deal a lot of damage. You're kind of prohibited in this way from focusing your build on nothing but damage, damage, damage (though the damaging options that you do gain are quite good). Like I said... a suitably witchy damage build.
In conclusion: The grisly fetishist is awesome. The whole product is awesome. I give Class Acts: Witch Archetypes five stars. *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
So! We've got two spell-less ranger archetypes weighing in at less than a page each. Can Abandoned Arts pull off not one but two well-balanced spell-less rangers with that kind of space? The answer is: yes! (...mostly.)
We start with the grim huntsman (which made me think of the hunter from the Snow White fairy tale), a spell-less ranger focused on traps, survivability, and killing his favored enemies. If it were not for one class feature, I would say that the ranger falls flat in terms of making up for the lack of spells (such as gravity bow). Instead, however, I'm actually kind of concerned that this archetype is a bit too good at 12th level and beyond. Basically, the grim huntsman gains a class feature that says you can "sacrifice" one point of your favored enemy bonus when you make a single melee attack against that favored enemy in order to automatically slap some condition on them. I was on board until I saw the stun condition was available at 12th level. Auto-stun seems a bit too powerful. I suppose it is balanced by the fact that you have to make a single melee attack and you have to be in melee - but if the boss monster is your favored enemy and you can manage to close to melee? Well, he's probably screwed (with no saving throw).
However! This mechanic is actually really interesting in that - because you have to reduce your favored enemy bonus each time you attack - it forces you to decide whether to spread your favored enemies around (in order to use your incredibly powerful melee ability more often, against more types of foes) or to invest all your favored enemy bonuses in a single type, so that you can really auto-screw that enemy all day long.
The ranger also gains some mediocre survivalist-type bonus feats and a very awesome (and very early) ability that allows you to add your favored enemy bonus to the DC of traps that you create, relative only to those favored enemies. That really makes the use of ranger traps worthwhile if you plan to catch your favored enemies in them.
The next archetype is the houndmaster, who gives up his spells for a pack of (eventually) four dogs. You basically miss out on one "effective druid level" every time you get a new dog, but the dogs never get so weak that they become irrelevant (although it's a shame that you do give up spells, because spellcasting could really help improve the dogs and keep them significant - but I guess that's what allied spellcasters are for). You also gain some really nice (and adorable!) abilities that basically let you "talk" to your doggies and give them extremely complex commands. Worth the lack of spells? Maybe. Four animal companions that you can basically instruct to do exactly what you want can accomplish a lot. Still, the houndmaster might be a slightly underpowered archetype (in contrast to the possibly-slightly-overpowered grim huntsman).
Both archetypes are still awesome, I think. Also, the houndmaster avoids the problem of being a pet-heavy class with a lot of "character sheets" to manage by virtue of the fact that each dog has an identical "character sheet."
The wise warden didn't impress me quite as much, although it does fill an interesting niche and could potentially end up with some pretty wicked spellcasting abilities (for a ranger, that is) without giving up a whole lot of fighting power.
Interestingly, the wise warden stacks with the houndmaster, and at 15th level, gains a class feature that would make the houndmaster's ability to "give" his quarry bonus to his dogs a lot more powerful. Kind of late in the game to be sure, but "late in the game" is where the houndmaster needs the most help.
In conclusion: Class Acts: Ranger Archetypes is a great buy at a dollar. Each of the three archetypes are terrific, and there are minimal balance concerns. I give this one four and a half stars. *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
We've got three archetypes to review: the earthspeaker, the fairy thrall, and the greenmind. These concepts strike me as sort of "on theme" for the druid - nothing groundbreaking here in terms of concept. These archetypes don't really reinvent the druid the way other Abandoned Arts archetypes sometimes take a class in a new direction (the wormtongue rogue archetype, the madman barbarian archetype, the Voodoo priest cleric archetype, and so on). Still, the archetypes herein are mechanically well-balanced and innovative, even if the themes lack a little imagination (a druid that talks to the earth, a druid that communes with plants, a druid in thrall to the fey...).
The earthspeaker is easily my favorite archetype of the three. Basically, it gains a wild empathy-like mechanic that lets it literally talk to the earth (in Druidic) and convince the earth to do things. The higher your "empathy" check, the better an effect you can produce from the earth. The DCs are high, which means that this ability won't really become reliably powerful until you reach higher levels (and greater Charisma), but that's fine with me since this ability replaces wild shape - which also typically becomes much more useful at higher levels.
The faerie thrall is a druid who is literally in thrall to some type of fey (good or evil). Basically you choose a good-or-evil-fey "path" at first level that influences a couple of your abilities. The powers are neat, and versatile. You even get to adopt the fey creature template for several rounds per day, and you can pick your templated abilites on the fly. The capstone ability is very cool also (although strangely, it is not impacted by the good-or-evil path mechanic). At 20th, you gain the ability to cause people to "remember" anything that you convince them of with the Bluff skill as though it actually happened that way. Cool!
The greenmind is a plant-based druid that gains a plant-only wild shape. It loses out on scimitar proficiency and armor proficiency (!) in exchange for a constant (and slightly higher-scaling) barkskin spell-like ability and a large (also scaling) bonus to Stealth checks in grassy/forest-y terrain. It also trades out resist nature's lure for a much better suite of resistances. This archetype would really shine for a druid multiclassing into monk. In fact, there's a PrC called the nature warden in the Advanced Player's Guide that merits a look if that idea appeals to you. This archetype would also be good for a druid-based mystic theurge build. If you're not multiclassing into a "no armor" class though, I'm not sure the greenmind is worth it. The way that the barkskin and the Stealth bonuses interact is cool, though.
In conclusion: I guess I've come to expect a certain feel from Abandoned Arts archetype products. Class Acts: Druids is mechanically solid, but I feel that the archetypes "played it safe" with some very "traditional" druidic concepts. Still a great buy, though, and I suppose the fairy thrall is fairly original. Still - the mechanics are there, and they're pretty original and interesting. I give this one four stars. ****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
We've got three medium-length archetypes here: the madman, the reaver, and the Viking marauder. The madman is almost everything I could want from an archetype - it alters the feel or flavor of the class without throwing that class' mechanics out the window, and it puts an original and thematically-appropriate new spin on the base class that it alters. The madman gains domain-based rage powers, the ability do drive others mad with insane rage-babble, and other nutjob-cultist-themed abilities. Until I read the review posted just below this one, I would have said that this archetype was nearly perfect... but in retrospect, the capstone ability really would have been better off as a scaling class feature earned at an earlier level. Still a really, really cool archetype, though! Special note: you've got to be evil to play this guy.
My favorite archetype is the reaver, a "death-obsessed" fearmonger that gains a very unique and original sneak attack ability. It's nothing special or fancy, but I love the way that the sneak attack ability worked out. And don't worry - it's not overpowered! My only nit-pick with this archetype is that it gains a slightly improved version of the intimidating glare rage power at 2nd level, but it does not gain another class feature that synergizes with intimidating glare until 19th level. All the more reason to find your own synergy before then, I guess. If I remember correctly, the first barbarian product that Abandoned Arts released did contain a few rage powers that would work well with intimidating glare.
The product ends with the Viking marauder, a sailing, raiding, pillaging barbarian. I'm not usually super into naval combat or vehicle rules, but the archetype isn't bad. A couple of its class features have to do with having and sailing on a ship, though. The archetype does contain a very cool class feature based on the use of teamwork feats, though. I liked that one very much. It's kind of a "brothers in arms" ability - a very "barbarian" teamwork flavor. Me gusta. I'd like to see another barbarian archetype based on this mechanic sometime.
In conclusion: Class Acts: Barbarian Archetypes is a solid value at only a buck. As usual, the quality of the content is on par with that of Paizo's. Each of the three archetypes is perfectly usable and the madman and reaver in particular contain some pretty nifty mechanics. I give this one four and a half stars. *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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First of all, the formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are. There is one small typo (an errant spacebar keystroke) in the text of the first archetype.
We've got two lengthy archetypes here: the Animist and the Guild Scholar, with the first being the show-stealer.
The animist is a wizard who adds animate objects to his spell list. Not only does he add this cleric spell to his wizard spell list, but he specializes in that particular spell in a way that no other caster, arcane or divine, can do. He gains an eventually-beastly animated object familiar, nets extra "construction points" when animating objects, can bestow special properties on his animated objects' attacks, and can "animate" weapons to attack for him (but not really). The things that you can do with animated objects and with your familiar are very cool, and seem well-balanced to me. Moreover, this archetype looks fun, and makes me want to play it. That's good design.
The guild scholar is a pretty solid archetype from a design and balance perspective, but it's lacking the animist's "oomph." I will say that it does gain a very cool capstone ability, although we all know how often those actually see play. Otherwise, the abilities it gains have everything to do with spellbooks, symbol spells, nonmagical research, and divination. Not the most exciting stuff (and probably slightly underpowered?), but a good read nonetheless. For the record, I think the Guild Runic special ability should have required ranks in Craft (calligraphy).
Both archetypes are more or less rock-solid and thematically interesting, with the animist being very mechanically interesting, perfectly balanced, and lots of fun, to boot.
In conclusion: Class Acts: Wizard Archetypes is a solid buy, and probably worth the price for the Animist alone. I give this one four stars. *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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First of all, the formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are. There is one small typo (an errant spacebar keystroke) in the text of the first archetype.
There are four rogue archetypes to review here (more than in any of the other three archetype products that Abandoned Arts has released as of the time of this writing), and they're all quite good. Let's dive in.
We start with the Hoodwink. There's not much to say about this archetype. It's short, it's sweet, and it's decent. Also: Abandoned Arts seems obsessed with caltrops. My only criticism is that I have a sneaking suspicion that the ability to cause the "confused" condition so readily might be a tad broken, even if only for a very short time and at the expense of most (or all) of your sneak attack dice.
Then again, you have to be able to sneak attack, then you have to hit, then they have to fail a save, and then they have a 25% chance to act normally anyway... so maybe it's fine. I would like to say that "hoodwink" is an excellent name for a rogue archetype. Me gusta.
But the hoodwink is only the appetizer for what turns out to be a buffet of awesome. The Lookout is next, and this archetype features one of the best mechanics I have ever read. On the first read-through you may not understand why, so allow me to explain.
The lookout is basically designed to be a paranoid party spotter and point man. His signature class feature, Nose for Trouble, gives the rogue a chance to "sense" danger around the corner or in the next room, even if he would have no way to be aware of the danger, normally. A sixth sense for trouble, basically. This is a cool class feature, and it can detect any type of danger, not just traps and obstacles. So what's to stop the lookout from spamming this ability everywhere he goes? At every door, and around every corner? Well, that's the beautiful part.
If you use this ability and you detect some kind of danger, you can use it again any time you want. If you use this ability and detect no danger (because your check failed, or because no such danger exists), then this ability goes on a long "cooldown," and you can't use it again anytime soon. This means that you actually have to reserve the use of the ability for when you, the player, actually suspect trouble around the corner. Your own, real-life genre-savvy and sense of danger translates into your in-character decision-making without requiring you to meta-game. Beautiful!
Next to that, the Urban Stalker (basically a "serial killer" rogue) seems fairly ordinary. Don't skim this one, though. There are a couple of gems here, too. The first is a "freebie" class feature that is both a blessing and a curse: the infamy of your deeds makes your actions easier to learn about with "gather information" type skill checks, but it doesn't make it any easier for others to learn about you, per se. This could be good (assuming "sowing fear and building up an infamous reputation" are on your to-do list of character goals) or bad (as others might be able to use the knowledge of your evil deeds against you).
Bloody sneak attack is also a great class feature (as are the urban stalker's other two class features), incentivizing rogues to take rogue talents which cause enemies to bleed without requiring that they do. I like archetypes which motivate players to make flavorful choices when character-building without simply forcing those choices on them. Good job, here.
Lastly, we have my personal favorite archetype: the Wormtongue. This is a sort of magical master-of-deception, and after talking with the author (Daron Woodson), my suspicions about the inspiration for this archetype were correct: the Tolkien character of the same name! Nice.
This archetype gives the rogue some very cool, very sneaky social abilities, a very good and appropriate bonus feat, and enables the rogue to take the Minor Magic and Major Magic rogue talents several times each, as long as he takes enchantment spells (with which he gains a significant bonus). The last ability, sow dissent, allows the wormtongue to radiate an insidious little "social debuff" that is almost impossible to detect, and allows him to cast a hard-to-ID-with-Spellcraft suggestion spell-like when the aura is active.
If "nose for trouble" is the coolest class feature here, the wormtongue is the coolest archetype overall. Well-balanced and pretty original, too, with brownie points for the LotR nod.
In conclusion: Class Acts: Rogues Archetypes is an excellent PDF. Flawless, I might even say... I'm truly impressed, and I want to play all of these rogues. Well, maybe not the urban stalker (unless I could convince my GM that a Dexter Morgan-inspired character isn't evil). If the cleric archetypes isn't the best Abandoned Arts archetype PDF to-date, this one is. Five whole stars. *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Well! I definately have some mixed feelings about this PDF. First of all, the formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
This is my second Class Acts archetype review, and it'll be the most conflicted one. There are only two archetypes presented here (which is fine, because they are both fairly wordy). The first is the Miracle Worker, and the second is the Voodoo Priest. Now I've said this before (in my review of the last cleric-themed Abandoned Arts product)... I hate the cleric class. I don't like the concept (something about my real-world aversion to religion as a whole) and I don't like the mechanics. The cleric class is full of dead-or-dull levels. It's boring, and there isn't much that an archetype can do to fix that.
What an archetype can do is make the class feel interesting. A little reskinning goes a long way. Before we talk about that, let's get the miracle worker out of the way.
The miracle worker is a decent archetype. It consists of only one alternate feature (which is fine, since the damned cleric class only really HAS one class feature), and that alternate feature is fairly neat and very balanced. Also, it really requires you to think carefully about your domain - and not for the lame domain powers, but for the spells granted. I like that. Overall, though, the miracle worker could have used more... well... just, more.
But the voodoo priest - oh boy. This doesn't even feel like a cleric anymore - and I'm glad for it. This is the power of reskinning wielded properly. The voodoo priest is a fantastic and flavorful archetype - even the fact that it feels slightly underpowered doesn't really bother me. It communes with voodoo spirits, never with gods, and it's beneficial class features have a "catch" that makes the voodoo priest really feel... voodoo-ey. Promises of power and benefit that bite you in the butt later. Also, the archetype gains a feature called ruinous belief that is super-awesome... it's a simple mechanic that punishes the voodoo priest's enemies for fearing and believing in the power of his magic.
From the swapped proficiencies to the variant channeling of possessing voodoo spirits to ruinous belief to the little poppet doll that it pushes pins into (classic!), this archetype really shines, and gives the stupid old cleric a whole new feel.
In conclusion: Class Acts: Cleric Archetypes is slightly genius and very solid. It might even be the best of the first four archetype products. Four and a half stars (and it would've been five if the miracle worker had wowed me half as much as the voodoo priest). *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
Abandoned Arts has rolled out a new series of products, it seems... a product line all about archetypes. I'll be starting my review with the good old fighter.
There are three archetypes presented here, the Lasher, the Sentinel, and the Soldier. The lasher is pretty good - I had to check to see if such an archetype exists in the Pathfinder product line already. I was surprised to learn that there is no "whip guy" existing fighter. So, right off the bat, this archetype fills an empty niche. As for class features, it's pretty solid. The abilities are neither over- nor under-powered, and are thematically cool. My favorite move is the lasher's ability to strip the morale bonuses off of an enemy by lashing him in a cruel way. Also, offensive bonuses against prone and/or shaken enemies is a neat-o idea. I approve.
The sentinel, on the other hand, is sort of... boring? It certianly isn't bad - it's not designed poorly in any way, and it gains Perception as a class skill, which is cool. A couple of the mechanics are fairly original, if not exciting. In short, it just doesn't "grab" me the way the others do.
This product ends on a high note with the soldier, however. I noticed two mechanical problems with this class which I am promised will be resolved, so I won't mention them. I'd rather not, anyway, because I really like this archetype a lot. The soldier is the best of the bunch. It gets teamwork feats and bonus class skills, but it must choose a teamwork feat at first level, and it doesn't get any additional skill points. As a result, it's no better for "dipping" into than any other fighter archetype - which is good. The class features are solid, thematic, and fairly original, and the capstone ability is almost heart-wrenching.
Speaking of which - will somebody write some decent epic-level rules already? I'd like to see cool capstones like this one get used in a game, someday. : P
In conclusion: The soldier aside, Class Acts: Fighter Archetypes isn't terribly innovative, but it is a great value, and it's consistent with the style and quality of Paizo's products. Three and a half stars. ****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are all spot-on, as all the Class Acts PDFs typically are.
I like how Abandoned Arts seems to do most of their very best work on the classes that happen to be my favorites. Class Acts: Druids really has no problems to speak of. Everything herein pretty much ranges from good to very good.
We've got twelve new domains divided into two types: animal domains and terrain domains (new options for each in addition to the options from Ultimate Magic). Most of the animal domains grant matching animal familiars, which seemed odd until I read up on Ultimate Magic and discovered that animal domains do typically do that. The appeal of gaining a cute little fox and a big, bad animal companion is strong for me. I've always been a supporter of the "Snow White" druid, who surrounds herself with all kinds of animals, big and small. "Make the lion lay down with the lamb," and all that.
It's hard to pick a favorite domain power out of all the neat stuff, here. The Ebb and Flow ability from the Waves domain gives you some pretty significant combat and movement-related bonuses in exchange for really screwing up your next round of actions. It's a neat economy-of-actions puzzle... I love options like these. Elemental Eruption is a powerful and bad-assed move that really lends a sense of chaotic-ness to the volcanic druid. My favorite might very well be Lash of Leaves, from the Forest domain. With this granted power, you can call into being a huge weapon made of slashing leaves, which disperses to the winds when you're done with it. Sweet visual. The Shriek and Blind as a Bat granted powers of the Bat domain get special mentions too, for their unique blindsight and blindsense mechanics. Not something I've seen before - very neat.
Oh, and the King of Beasts granted power from the Lion domain just about made my day. Remember that "Snow White" druid I was talking about earlier? Yeah; here it is.
I do have one smalllll complaint about this product. There are so many instances of the "familiar" ability that I feel like each one after the first could have simply said "as the ability from the Bat domain, except you get a fox / eel / whatever." With all the space that'd have saved, the author might have been able to include another domain! Like I said, it's a small complaint.
In conclusion: this product manages to be both very original and innovative, but also very adherent to the trends and types of abilities laid out for animal and terrain domains in Ultimate Magic. Four and a half stars! *****
As always, I just want make it known I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are equivalent to all the other Class Acts PDFs. That is to say, nice and tidy with no mistakes that I noticed.
As the product description says, there are fifteen new feats contained in this PDF, as well as three new combat styles. A quick word about those... In general, I'm not a fan of the idea that rangers should have a million combat styles to choose from. That's the fighter's thing. However, these three styles do feel quite ranger-y, and two of the three are definately fighting styles, not weapon styles. Big difference, there. Pretty good job on these.
Now for the feats - which are absolutely the "meat" to the combat styles' "potatoes."
Ahh, now this is the good stuff. Most of these feats are based on your ranger having specific favored enemy types. While this means that any given ranger might have a hard time benefitting from more than two or three feats from this product, it also means that you'll be able to turn your favored enemy bonuses into more than just plain, numerical bonuses to attack and damage rolls. First mention goes to Vile Stalker. I love Vile Stalker. Your "vile attentions" are so evil that your celestial favored enemies can feel them from miles away. Awesome. The fiendish counterpart feat is Fiend Warden, which allows you to track plane-hopping evil outsiders. Topple Giants has a neat mechanic, and so does Knowledgeable Tracker, which is almost a must-have feat for any game in which tracking occurs on a regular basis. One gripe: I think inquisitors should have been able to qualify for this one, too!
One more feat I want to talk about is Dragonslayer. The summary on the feats table says: "Ignore the natural armor bonuses of dragons." Naturally, I was wary of this one before I ever read it, but I was definately not disappointed. The feat is balanced, and cool. You can literally make dragons choke on your arrows.
My singular gripe? Staunch Enemy. The feat is dripping with cool-factor (you give your enemy your own favored enemy bonuses against you, but you gain a big bonus if you defeat them), but it has a mechanical flaw: nothing stops you from witholding the benefits until just before you kill your foe, thus denying them the ability to use the bonuses but enabling you to collect the benefits of the feat. I realize that you can never really be sure[i] of exactly when you'll drop your opponent, but I feel that this should be errata'd to give the enemy more time to use the bonuses you have to give it.
Overall, though, I like this almost as much as I liked the witches PDF. Most of the feats are pure gold. Really innovative stuff. I highly recommend this product to ranger fans, and I give [i]Class Acts: Rangers four and a half stars. ******
First of all, I just want to say that I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Formatting, layout, spelling and grammar, and overall appeal are on-par with the other Class Acts PDFs.
As the product description says, there are eighteen new hexes contained in this PDF... and almost every one of them is a "keeper." This might very well be the best Class Acts product to date.
I could find no "bad" hexes here. Woodwife is alright, if bland-ish, and Pinch isn't very powerful (but it is funny and original, and it offers a little justifcation for the otherwise terrible Nails hex from the APG). Also, Bewitch might be a little broken?
Almost everything here is awesome, though. Visually speaking, the coolest hex here is the first: Abeyance. The reason I love witches and hexes in general is that they just ooze with flavor. This PDF delivers flavor in spades with hexes like this one.
Dance with the Dead lets you dance the dead to unlife, Pestilence is fantstic for NPC villains, and Witchlights is outstanding... letting you literally lure enemies to their doom (i.e. the five-foot square in front of your barbarian) in a very fey and witchy way. Evil Presence gives your evil witch a nice advantage when dealing with nosy paladins and inquisitors.
All five of the major hexs are great: Last Laugh is a fantastic mechanic that gives GMs a couple of really good plot hooks with which to build an andventure around. Lure is nothing special, mechanically, but it gives witches an advantage when Bluffing. I don't know why it doesn't give Bluff as a class skill (and I wish it did, that's been a pet peeve of mine since forever), but some kind of Bluff bonus is better than none. Promise of Power gives power to your dominated thralls, and Scrying Cauldron is very neat - you use your cauldron as a scrying focus and pour potions into it to affect the subject of your scrying. Torment is a hostile detect thoughts; neat.
Very impressed with this product, moreso than any other. I highly recommend this product (to everyone, but especially to GMs), and I give it five stars. *****
First of all, I just want to say that I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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Like the fighter itself, this PDF is nice and basic, but mechanically solid and well-balanced. First of all, the feat table looks and reads just like it should, and the overall appearance and format of this PDF and the other Class Acts PDFs are excellent.
My only real issue with the feats is that almost all of them are very specific. Two of the twenty-two new feats (Pit Fighter and Furious Fighter) require the fighter to be multiclassed (though they're well-done feats; none of that "your class levels stack when determining this-or-that"). Several of the feats require the fighter to specialize with a specific weapon or combat maneuver. A few others require you to have the bravery class feature, which a lot of players trade out via an archetype.
The material itself is very, very good though. Innovative but solid, and well-balanced. There were no feats here that I didn't like.
Always Ready, Battle Hardened, and War-Torn are neat feats that all interact in some way with the bravery class feature. All three of these feats do a great job of making you feel and play like a battle-toughened war hero.
For my money, the most interesting feat in the document is Fighter's Focus. While not explicitly powerful, this feat is almost brilliant, mechanically speaking. In addition to granting you a couple of other benefits, Fighter's Focus gives you a bonus on Will saves... but only when you're in combat. It's a feat that basically says "you're more focused and in control when you're in battle."
That's pretty cool.
Also cool is Hurling Disarm and Splintering Sunder. Both of these feats give you excellent bonuses and benefits when performing various combat maneuvers. To a lesser degree, Wrenching Disarm and Clobbering Feint do, too.
Die By the Sword is the only feat that raised my eyebrow in terms of suspiciously high power levels, but it's probably fine. It's also extremely cinematic.
A few of the weapon-specific feats are excellent. Quick Quarterstaff is good for low-level fighters or multiclassed fighters with fewer attacks per round. This feat allows you to take the total defense action while still contributing to combat. Javelin Strike is also significant. When I read the feat description, I figured it was going to bore me. This feat does a lot more than allow you to use a javelin in melee, though. Quite interesting.
The best of them is the whip feat, Lashing Strike. This feat basically allows you to double your damage (kinda), but only if you're dealing nonlethal damage, and only if you're using Vital Strike. On another weapon, I'd call "overpowered," but I think I'd still rather make a bunch of trip attacks, most times.
This is a rock-solid buy, overall. I say four stars. ****
First of all, I just want to say that I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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While I'm not a huge fan of the wizard class, there are some amazing arcane discoveries, here. Considering the price tag at the time of this writing, this PDF is worth picking up if you ever plan to play a wizard - not because some of the abilities are so good (they are), but because when Ultimate Magic first came out, I was stoked to see that the wizard was getting some "menu-style" choose-them-as-you-gain-levels abilities. "Welcome to the club" said the fighter, and the bard, and the rogue, and the barbarian, and the monk, and the ranger, and the magus, and the witch, and the summoner, and the gunslinger, and the oracle...
"Shut up, monk. A couple of bonus feats don't count; get out of here," said the witch.
Unfortunately, the arcane discoveries contained within the pages of Ultimate Magic were sort of skimpy. I think there are more discoveries in this PDF than there are in Ultimate Magic - and several of them are at least as good, or better. Thirty-two discoveries is a lot.
Sadly, this product is all over the place in terms of quality. Don't get me wrong - the language is clear and the grammar is perfect... everything looks professional and is worded well - but there are a few (not a lot, but more than a couple) instances of "wasted potential" here.
Illimitable Power? Gee... thanks.
Arcane Signet? Really? A +10 bonus on two skills that only applies roughly half of the time (at best) is not a capstone ability.
Aside from the odd flatly-underpowered dud (of which Wizened might be one; but I can't tell if it sucks or if it was meant to be a "pat on the head" for high-level mystic theurges) there are some seriously-great discoveries here. Let's talk about the good stuff.
Animator! Animator!!! Nets you animate objects as an arcane spell, and gives you a bonus with that spell. Don't mind if I do.
None Dare Speak His Name and Sense Artifacts are awesome. Nevermind that these are both 20th level capstone powers which will likely never see play - they're awesome, damn it.
Wrest Summons is super-cool. Voice of Reason is basically just one of those "use x in place of y" abilities, but it lets wizards be good at something that they weren't good at before. Obfuscation is perfect for "tricky" mages and illusionists, Mind Over Matter gives you a neat and wizard-y variant of Diehard, and Forceful Counterspell lets you "push back" against your enemies spells' so hard that they get nosebleeds. Ioun Bond lets you affix ioun stones to your bonded object to give the object bonus hit points and other benefits.
Dedicated Familiar will be a popular choice for multiclassed wizards, and Imperious Familiar actually allows your familiar to be legitimately but very situationally useful in combat now and then. Coolest of all the familiar discoveries is Reservoir Familiar, which allows you to "hide" a spell in your familiar's mind and get it back, later. I'll admit... I didn't "get it" at first, but the uses are readily apparent if you think about it.
As awesome as None Dare Speak His Name is, coolest arcane talent goes to Living Spellbook, which does exactly what it sounds like it does. Ever wanted to play Gin Rummy with your familiar and your spellbook? Now you can.
All in all, the hits outweigh the misses (and those hits are spot on). I want to give it more, but my verdict is three and a half stars. ****
First of all, I just want to say that I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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The basics: Good price, good layout, very professional.
The disclaimer: I hate clerics. I hate them. Fortunately, I don't mind domains, per se.
The domains: Like the product description says, there are eighteen new subdomains contained in this PDF. Quite a step down from the thirty-two rage powers and rogue talents contained within the Class Acts: Barbarians and Class Acts: Rogues PDFs, but two pages of content, nonetheless. Something this product does have that some of the others don't is a table. A pretty, pink table. It might sound silly, but the table really breaks up the "HEADER: text, HEADER: text, HEADER: text" format and does a lot to make the product look nice.
Anyway, there's some good stuff here and there's some middle-of-the-road stuff here. I am dismayed to report that this is the first Class Acts product I've read to contain anything that I'd call "filler" (here's looking at you Illumination and Spell Lore). Beg is a little more interesting... if you're an NPC.
There's also some really good stuff here. Mistcloak is cool as can be, and Fickle Favor and All for One are almost as good. I also want to mention Aura of Decrepitude because it's cool, and because the author used the word "decrepitude."
The Winter subdomain's Winterwoe granted power is noteworthy if only because it contains a simple but nifty new mechanic that rewards characters with the Endurance feat. The existence of this power alone isn't enough to inspire anyone to take Endurance unless they're also going for Diehard, of course... but I approve of the gesture. I also really liked Stoneshuffle. It occurs to me that there aren't enough mechanics that interact with difficult terrain in any way other than to allow you to ignore it. Good work.
The Curse of Mortality is either underpowered or overpowered... I haven't decided which. Very cool flavor, though. Heat Stone is a nifty variant on the standard "Pew, pew! Elemental damage!" domain powers (and wizard schools, and bloodline abilities...)
One thing this product does a really great job of is the swapping out of domain spells for subdomain-appropriate ones. Compare the Harvest subdomain to the Plant domain, or the Starlight subdomain to the Darkness domain.
Overall I recommend this product if you absolutely must play a stinking damn cleric.
First of all, I just want to say that I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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As with the other Class Acts PDFs, this is a good-looking PDF document by third-party standards. Text heavy but not cluttered, and priced very well.
Like the product description says, there are thirty-two new rage totems contained in this PDF. I'd like to say that again: thirty-two new rage powers. Why is that significant, in my opinion?
An alchemist's discovery, a cleric domain power, a rogue talent, a metamagic feat, a sorcerer bloodline... you can literally write anything you want for these types of abilities. On the other hand, there are only so many ways to say "Grr; you're really strong!"
Abandoned Arts has found thirty-two new ways to say exactly that, though... and without any real stinkers to speak of. Well, maybe one... but I'll get to that when we start talking about the Wave Totem. Aside from that, Zealous Fury is probably underpowered (or at least "powered" on par with the suckier Core Rulebook rage powers, like Bestial Climber/Jumper/Swimmer).
But the Panther Totem... oh boy. Oh boy. I hope I'm not giving too much away when I say that the last power in the Panther Totem line actually gives you a slightly modified version of the assassin's death attack. I know the death attack is not a "new" idea, but in the hands of a barbarian it takes on a total new feel. The other powers in the totem tree are very good also, and all of them really give you a "patient predator" vibe. Creeping through the tall grass, stalking your prey, muscles coiled, ready to spring. This made me really want to play a barbarian, which is EXACTLY what a product like this should do. I love this totem.
Then there's the Wave Totem. A great suite of powers sullied by the worst rage power I've ever seen as a "throwaway" prerequisite choice. The second and third powers in the totem tree are cool, and give you a barbarian-appropriate "crush them like a crashing wave" vibe, but they really don't merit a "throwaway" power in my opinion.
Aside from that, the rage powers here are all very cool and well done. There's a good mix of offensive and defensive powers, though for some reason there's a mini "tree" of three rage powers (Pulverize, Slaughter, and Massacre) that all seem to deal with adding extra damage to opponents that you put at -1 hp or less with your attack. Good choices if your GM makes in-combat healing readily available to NPCs and monsters, but I don't know if this concept really merits three rage powers.
Also noteworthy are the Bash Aside and Is That All You've Got? powers. These two powers are technically unrelated, but they have a neat synergy that just drips with "cool." Imagine using your weapon to smash a scorching ray spell into cinders, and then just sort of waggling your finger at the big bad wizard as if to say "you shouldn't have done that..."
Tempered Rage gives you some of the "cunning barbarian" vibe that the Panther Totem offers, and is a good choice for barbarians seeking to augment or emulate that totem. Lastly, the Wrathful Slayer, Wrathful Opportunist, and Wrathful Critical rage powers tap into a no-brainer mechanic that makes you better able to fight opponents who have injured you recently. Considering that the barbarian is all about rage, I don't know why we haven't seen anything like this before. I like it.
Overall, just a great bunch of rage powers. Needless to say, I highly recommend this product. Four and a half stars. *****
First of all, I just want to say that I was offered on the EnWorld forums (and did accept, obviously) a review copy of this product, if anyone finds that relevant. Now on to the review.
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First off: this is a good-looking PDF document, especially by third-party standards. There is no art to speak of, and it's a little text heavy... but that could be considered a good thing. Also, this product seems priced very well.
Like the product description says, there are thirty two new rogue talents contained in this PDF, and overall, they're mostly quite good. There are definately a lot of real gems, here. Unfortunately, there are also three or four very lame talents that almost seem out-of-place, given the overall excellence of the product. I like to get the "bad" out of the way before diving into the "good," so let's talk about the very first talent. Apprentice is the first talent we see, and boy is it a stinker. Despite an admittedly-neat "mentoring" mechanic, this talent is just grossly underpowered. It's not even worth the price of a rogue talent let alone the "mentoring" hoops you have to jump through to gain its benefits. It's not filler (actually, I'd like to see something similar in the future using the same mechanic to achieve some actually-worthwhile effect) ...it just sucks. It's talents like this that anchor this product firmly in the four-star realm. Talents like Bloody Blade and Urban Explorer are similarly lame-O.
Now onto the good stuff! Most of the content here is either mechanically innovative (Rogue's Agility, Delay Sneak Attack), flavorful (Thieves' Honor, Ear to the Streets), or both (Daring Acrobatics, Dramatic Entrance).
Daring Acrobatics + Danger Sense turns your rogue into Spider-Man. One talent deserves a special note (because this has been a favorite tactic of mine since my days as a monk in EverQuest), and that is Feign Death. This isn't the "meditative death trance" that we usually see... this is just the ability to play oppossum convincingly. Basically, it's an immediate action "you got me! blarrhagahghggg!" I love it. It's mechanically intuitive and it doesn't hold up to medical examination. Come to think of it, this is a fantastic way to avoid 90% of TPKs.
Caltrop Master gives you a few caltrop-related advantages, and Caltrop Splash allows you to strew caltrops at a distance, which I like a lot. I'm a sucker for anything that keeps mundane equipment relevant. Caltrop Splash also turns your caltrop bags into splash weapons. The damage is low, but that's what sneak attack is for. Lastly - while it isn't exactly innovative, I foresee my future 3PP-friendly rogues taking Artful Dodger a lot. As a basic talent, I'd call it broken, but as an advanced talent, I like it a lot.
On the whole, I absolutely recommend this product, and I am very much looking forward to the next round of Class Acts PDFs. Four stars. ****
